Spy Defendant Plans To Contest Charges; Secrets May Be Issue

Published: February 25, 1994

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"This is not and will not be a witch hunt," Mr. Glickman said. But he said his committee intended to conduct "an aggressive examination of what went wrong and what must be done to improve management of counterintelligence activities."

Counterintelligence is the business of detecting enemy spies and trying to recruit them to work for the United States. Mr. Ames was a branch chief of a counterintelligence division focused on the Soviet Union and eastern European nations, and worked in the agency's Rome station from 1983 to 1991 trying to recruit agents.

Mr. Woolsey declined to discuss the Ames matter publicly in any detail, saying only that a joint Pentagon-C.I.A. commission would soon report on the use of lie-detector tests, as well as "focusing on financial status of individuals in the Government by way of keeping track of security matters and the rest."

He was appearing before the House intelligence committee to defend the budget request of roughly $28 billion for all United States intelligence agencies for the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. He said further cuts by Congress were a threat to national security. Thin Ice on a Warm Day

"United States intelligence capabilities are being reduced to a level where, to compare it to last weekend's weather, we are skating on thin ice on a warm day," he said.

In a separate Congressional hearing, Secretary of State Warren Christopher denounced suggestions that the United States should suspend aid to Russia as a protest against espionage.

"The fundamental reason for assistance to Russia is to serve the interests of the United States," he said. "It's not charity."

Senator Bob Dole of Kansas, the minority leader, has called for a freeze on aid to Moscow unless the Russian Government says flatly that it will stop spying in the United States and cooperates with any prosecution that might be brought against Mr. Ames.

A C.I.A. spokesman, Kent Harrington, said tonight that the agency would not comment on a report in The Washington Post that it had sent a delegation to speak with officials of the Russian intelligence service but that it had returned from the meeting empty-handed. Waiting for Russia to Act

Earlier, a White House official said the Administration was waiting for Russia to make amends for the displeasure the United States had expressed in connection with the espionage arrests.

"It's in their court," the official said.

The official said the United States had not outlined specific suggestions for what penance the Russians might undertake, but were certain that the steps the Russians took would match the Administration's intent.

"The bottom line is we have told them what we want," the official said. "Since it was their actions that precipitated the damage to our relationship, we expect them to take action."

Photo: R. James Woolsey, the Director of Central Intelligence, preparing to testify yesterday before the House Select Committee on Intelligence. (Jose R. Lopez/The New York Times) (pg. A14)